TR EMERITUS

Trivia about the beginnings of The Online Citizen... The name was conjured at Glenda Han's pub in Boat Quay. I believe that pub was called The Camel (in French). That was where my friends in the WP and I would hang out. (This was in 2006, when I was a WP member.) I had 2 names on the shortlist, after weeks of throwing up various alternatives. The other option was Ground-up. In the end I chose The Online Citizen because of how the government (yes, even then) were trying to discredit the online community, with the media painting us critics as unpatriotic. So I chose "online citizen" as a rebuttal to that - that even though we may be online, we were still citizens of Singapore, with our rights to speak. And I thought that such a name would always ring true - which was then reinforced with the tagline "A Community of Singaporeans", which had always been on the website. And we lived up to the name and tagline - in the 9 years I was with TOC, we had some 600-700 volunteers pass through our doors, especially in the first 3 -5 years. And I am proud to say I met with every one of these volunteers - because of the kind of website we were, I had to know every one that volunteered with us. TOC has never been about any one or two persons. It was always a community, of Singaporeans. Without the volunteers, TOC would be nothing. And they were an incredible bunch of people, young and old. I never thought politics would attract so many. *I resigned from the WP in 2008 because as TOC got more well known, some people thought WP was involved with the website (which was not true because TOC had nothing to do with the WP, and I never discussed the website with any of the WP leadership). To avoid any confusion, I decided to resign from the party, since I was TOC's Managing Editor then. Anyway, just a little trivia.   Andrew Loh      Read More →

Singapore will soon take another step towards becoming a totalitarian state with the introduction of the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill, or FICA, in Parliament last Monday. Independent Singaporean journalist Kirsten Han analyzes the problems with the bill effectively here. As she summarizes, The official narrative is that this law will protect Singapore from foreign meddling in our domestic affairs and governance. We’re told that it’s about safeguarding our political sovereignty. FICA, like the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), will take on hostile information campaigns, so that Singaporeans can decide on Singaporean issues without the sneaky intervention or sabotage of outsiders. The reality, though, is that FICA is yet another vaguely worded piece of legislation, designed to give the authorities maximum discretion to cast a wide net over all sorts of activities — including advocacy work by civil society organisations and individual activists. Like POFMA, it hands large amounts of power over to the government, without accompanying checks and balances that will protect people from arbitrariness and potential abuse. Given the fact that the People's Action Party (PAP) government has more than two-thirds majority in Parliament, the bill is bound to pass after its Second Reading scheduled for the next parliamentary sitting. So what can we do? Singaporean writers and literary organizations can together issue an Open Letter objecting to the overly broad definitions and provisions of the Bill. What is at stake here is a free and open society. Singapore Unbound would gladly sign up to such an Open Letter. Such a letter will not prevent the Bill from becoming law, but at least the people of Singapore will know that their writers will not stand for the imposition of wide and arbitrary powers on the country. For the longer term, the PAP must learn the election costs of trying to exert totalitarian control over a people who are awakening to their rights and freedoms. Who cannot abide the arrogance of the governing elite, insulting their fellow parliamentarian by describing him as "illiterate" and coming from "a lousy school." The PAP drew the wrong lesson from its losses at the last election, but so is in apparent need of a remedial class.   Jee Leong Koh      Read More →

The Online Citizen (TOC) has taken down its website at exactly 9.08am. If you are wondering, yes the timing is deliberate. We have also deactivated our social media platforms, not because we agree that Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)'s demand is justified but we do not wish to complicate matters at this point in time. We will be filing a judicial review against IMDA's order for TOC to suspend its operation of the social media platforms as they are not part of the declaration that it signed with IMDA in 2018, neither has IMDA mentioned anything in regards to this at any point. Then-MDA publicly stated, "The registration of TOC Ltd is intended to ensure that the company does not receive foreign funding for the provision, management and/or operation of the TOC website, which is engaged in the propagation, promotion or discussion of political issues related to Singapore." Nothing of its press release speaks about operation of social media platforms. Furthermore, there also does not seem to be any justification for IMDA's order to have TOC cease its operation outside of Singapore as the issued class license is solely for the purpose of broadcasting in Singapore. As past instances have shown, IMDA can easily have the local internet service providers block websites from being accessed in Singapore so there is no need to compel TOC to shut down its website in the first place. TOC would like to reiterate that the sole reason why it is not complying with IMDA's demand for declaration is the insistence to have the existing subscribers be converted to donors even when evidence have been provided of how subscribers are being compensated for their fees. TOC had offered to prove the full declaration for FY2020 if IMDA does not quibble over the issue of subscription fees anymore. It has rejected the offer. IMDA is saying that the subscription that allows “subscribers” to get specific articles written, in return for “subscription funding” received, is a cause for concern as it could be an avenue for foreign influence. It, however, fails to highlight to the general public that after the exchange with TOC in 2019, the offer of this subscription tier has been removed by TOC. It also has issued a stern warning to TOC on its FY2019 declaration. Also to clarify, any suggestion from subscribers will only influence the topic and editorial discretion is still maintained by the website. For the sake of clarity, TOC has never received foreign funding and will continue this practice in the future to come. IMDA's continual action to pester TOC over its subscription model is nothing more than means of harassment and intimidation of the free press in Singapore. The licensing regime is simply meant to strike fear in the minds of the would-be donors and subscribers to prevent them from supporting independent journalism in Singapore. Contrary to expectation, there will be no sad statements of how TOC is being forced to close after nearly 15 years of operations as I assure you that this is just a temporary suspension of its operations and a time of reflection for TOC to look at how it can better improve itself in order to serve Singaporeans, its supporters and the greater public. As TOC is suspending its operations, we have cancelled or suspended all of our current subscriptions with our subscribers. Whether TOC will revisit the subscription model, is something to be decided in the future. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all supporters of TOC especially those who have been there for us since the very start, with our founders, Remy Choo Zheng Xi, Andrew Loh, the other former Chief Editors, Ravi Philemon, Joshua Chiang, Kumaran Pillai and the many meritorious contributors of the website such as Howard Lee, Kirsten Han, Lynn Lee, Stephii Chok, Leong Sze Hian, Donaldson Tan, Gangasudhan கங்காசுதன் and many others who have chosen to remain anonymous for the work that they have done out of pure desire for the betterment of Singapore. TOC couldn't have lasted so long without all your support over all these years.     Yours truly,     Terry Xu Editor-In-Chief      Read More →